Transcript (A) Identify reasons for US involvement in World War

Readiness standards comprise
65% of the U. S. History Test
19 A
Readiness Standard (7)
The student understands the domestic &
international impact of U. S. participation in World
War II.
The Student is expected to:
(A) Identify reasons for U. S. involvement in
World War II, including Italian, German, &
Japanese dictatorships & their aggression,
especially the attack on Pearl Harbor
THE ROAD TO
WAR
American Foreign Policy in the
1920s and 1930s
“The retreat from an active world policy in the 1920s
turned into a headlong flight back to isolationism in the
1930s. Two factors were responsible. First, the
Depression made foreign policy seem remote and
unimportant to most Americans. . . . Second, the
danger of war abroad, when it did finally penetrate the
American consciousness, served only to strengthen the
desire to escape involvement. . . . The growing danger
[by the mid-1930s] of war abroad led to a rising
American desire for peace and noninvolvement.”
“The United States emerged from
World War I as the richest nation
on earth. . . . Each year of the
1920s saw the nation increase its
economic lead as the balance of
trade tipped heavily in America’s
favor.”
During the 1920s, the U.S. was “careful not to make
any binding commitments on behalf of world order.
The result was neither isolation nor involvement but
rather an cautious middle course that managed to
alienate friends and encourage foes. . . . The financial
crash of 1929 halted the flow of American dollars
across the Atlantic and led to subsequent default on
debt payments, with accompanying bitterness on both
sides of the ocean.”
Kellogg-Briand
Pact
A treaty outlawing war
except in cases of selfdefense (1928); initially, 14
nations, including the U.S.
signed the pact; eventually,
62 nations were involved
On August 27, 1928, French Foreign minister
Aristide Briand (right) and U.S. Secretary of State
Frank B. Kellogg (above) signed the KelloggBriand pact. This treaty outlawed war.
On the surface of things, the U.S. and the 13 other nations that
signed this Treaty of Paris appeared to be a high minded, idealistic
commitment to guarantee a world without international conflict.
In fact, it was the culmination of an American effort to avoid
becoming entangled by obligations to its recent ally of World War
I, the French Republic
During the summer of 1927, Briand had approached the United States with a
proposal to formally outlaw war between France and America. While the idea
appeared attractive—particularly to pacifists—Briand’s true intention was to
bind the United States closely to France in the event of any future
international conflict. Kellogg adroitly guided negotiations so as to broaden
the terms of the agreement. Briand found himself in a somewhat awkward
position where he had no choice other than to agree to Kellogg’s counterproposal. The upshot was a diplomatic charade finally culminating “in the
elaborate ceremony in Paris.” If the treaty signatories agreed to “renounce
war as an instrument of national policy in all matters except for self defense,
in practical terms, the impact of the agreement was negligible. Enforcement
rested entirely on the “moral force of world opinion.” Once U.S. senator
described the treaty as nothing more than “an international kiss.” The United
States continued to keep itself aloof from involvement in international politics.
It neither picked up the mantle of world leadership nor expended any effort to
preserve world order. Indeed, as conditions in Europe began to deteriorate
during the 1930s, “the American people retreated even deeper, searching for
an isolationist policy that would spare them the agony of another great war.”
What Americans failed to realize was that “there was no place to hide in the
modern world. The period cartoon to the left satirizes the ineffectiveness of the
Kellogg-Briand Pact.
Scorecard
Continued
•
•
Isolationism—belief
that the U. S. should
avoid any entangling
involvements or
agreements with other
nations
Internationalism—
belief that as a great
power, the U. S. should
assume responsibility
for events abroad
Events reflecting America’s
willingness to participate in
international events in the
1920s
•Washington Naval
Conference
•Kellogg-Briand Pact
•Dawes Plan
•League of Nations
Conferences
Rise of World
Dictators
Mussolini became dictator of Italy
in 1922. He exercised tight fascist
control over entire nation.
He was Hitler’s
role model
during the early
years of Hitler’s
administration.
European
Fascism
A form of radical authoritarian nationalism that
came to prominence in early 20th-century
Europe. Influenced by national syndicalism, the
first fascist movements emerged in Italy around
World War I, combining more typically rightwing positions with elements of left-wing politics,
in opposition to communism, socialism, liberal
democracy & and traditional conservatism.
How Mussolini
Gained Power in
Italy
• Murdered or imprisoned his political
opponents
• Suspended elections
• Supervised the economy
• Modernized Italy’s armed forces
• Supported active campaign of territorial
expansion (e.g., invasion of Ethiopia)
With respect to
Mussolini’s 19351936 Italian
conquest of
Ethiopia, “the
League’s halfhearted
measures utterly
failed to halt” the
invasion. “Collective
security had failed
its most important
test.”
Adolf Hitler –Leader of
Germany’s National
Socialist (Nazi) party
In 1932, Hitler was
elected as German
chancellor (right). He
was fiercely anticommunist, antiSemitic, and against
the provisions of the
Versailles Treaty.
In 1923, Hitler was legally elected along with war
hero Eric Ludendorff (left).
Hitler enlisted the support of war heroes like
Herman Goering (right) whom he placed in charge
of the revived German air force or Luftwaffe. In his
book, Mein Kampf (center), published while in jail
for the infamous Beer Hall putsch of 1923, laid out
his plans for reassertion of German power and
establishment of a thousand year German Reich.
Issues Giving
Hitler Popularity
in Germany
• Treaty of
Versailles
• Communism
• Charismatic
speaking style
The notorious peace settlement crafted at Versailles
in France sewed the seeds of a second and even
greater worldwide conflict. By laying impossible
reparation payments, all but exclusive war guilt on
Germany, and ignoring Wilson’s principle of selfdetermination in the restructuring of postwar
Europe, the diplomats at Versailles all but
guaranteed a future conflict. Moreover, by
stripping Germany of critical territory and
resources, they rendered the new German republic
incapable of meeting the reparation payments that
they demanded.
Totalitarian State
The government controlling every aspect of a
person’s life; state considered to be supreme;
few rights extended to individuals; all political
opposition forbidden
How neutrality Acts
Became Progressively
Restrictive
•
•
•
Neutrality Act of 1935—forbid loans to
nations at war and joint resolution
banning aid to either side
Neutrality Act of 1937—banned shipments
of non-military goods to warring nations
Stimson Doctrine—Secretary of State
Henry Stimson declared the U.S. would
not recognize Japanese territorial gains in
China (but without any plan for action)
Stimson’s failed to
change Japan’s flouting
of the treaties aimed at
preserving peace.
In 1937, Japanese bomber planes sank U.S. gunboat Panay on
patrol in Yangtze river, killing 2 crew members; government
accepted official Japanese apology and $2 million in damages
(reflected American desire to avoid war at any cost).
U.S Response to
Japanese Attack on
China, 1937
A Collision Course
• Japan lacked raw materials to sustain a
developing industrial economy
• Japan sought to expand onto Asian
mainland
• 1905—took Korea
• 1931—invaded Manchuria
• 1937—invaded China
Although technologically
able, Japan found itself
without a wealth of
resources. This deficiency
led to imperialist behavior.
Deterioration of Events in
Europe
Munich Pact that
bought temporary
peace
A conference in 1938 in
which the British and
French agreed to allow
Hitler to take
Czechoslovakia’s
Sudetenland (which
had a majority of
German population)
Munich—a Monument to Failed
Foreign Policy
British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain) fell under Hitler’s
charismatic spell (as had many
others including famous American
aviator Charles Lindbergh).
Upon debarking from the airplane that brought
Chamberlain home from Munich, he triumphantly waved
treaty papers in the air and (like Benjamin Disraeli in an
earlier generation) proclaimed that he had brought Great
Britain “peace in our time.” The subsequent flow of events
revealed the folly of appeasement when applied to
unscrupulous leaders whose word could not be trusted.
MolotovRibbentrop Pact
A non-aggression pact signed between Germany
and Russia in 1939. The agreement spared
Germany a two-front war.
Unlikely
Bedfellows
The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pace shocked the world.
Heretofore, official Nazi policy was decidedly anti-Soviet.
Moreover, Mein Kampf revealed Hitler’s dismissive evaluation
of both the communist system and the Slavic peoples. As the
cartoons of the period reveal, the German-Russian alliance was
a cynical undertaking. Hitler would turn on Stalin in 1941
when the Wehrmacht invaded Russia.
As for America, while the U.S.
government largely ignored
the Soviet Union during the
1920s, President Roosevelt
finally extended official
recognition to the Bolshevik
government in 1933.
“The successful aggression by Nazi Germany
brought into question the isolationist assumption
that American well-being did not depend on the
European balance of power. . . . The long retreat
from responsibility was about to end as Americans
came to realize their own democracy and security
were at stake in the European war. . . . Americans
were stunned [at Hitler’s conquest of France].
Hitler had taken only six weeks to achieve what
Germany had failed to do in four years of fighting
in World War I. Suddenly they realized they did
have a stake in the outcome; if England fell, Hitler
might well gain control of the British navy.”
Munich—A
Cynical Bargain
Notions that the situation in
Europe would work out were
"destroyed on August 23, 1939,
by the news of a Nazi-Soviet
pact. Fascism and communism
were political philosophies
supposedly in deadly
opposition. Many Americans
had secretly hoped that Nazi
Germany and Soviet Russia
would fight it out, neutralizing
each other."
Cynicism of Pact exhibited
pre-pact quotes by: " It is
quite possible to course that
there are madmen in
Germany who dream of
annexing the Soviet Ukraine.
If there really are such
lunatics in Ger., rest assured
we shall find enough
straitjackets for them in our
country" Stalin
"The ideas by which we are governed are
diametrically opposite to those of Soviet
Russia....our task is to destroy Marxism. We
will fight it to the death...Bolshevism is the
most malignant poison that can be given to a
people. Any treaty with the present Russian
government would be completely worthless"
Hitler. One is reminded of the old adage,
“’Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to
kiss.”
Winston Churchill
Churchill became British prime minister after
Chamberlain’s resignation when policy of
appeasement became discredited. In fact, Churchill’s
political career had been largely in decline. As a
younger man, he had held many important
government posts before becoming persona no grata.
During his “wilderness years,” he was virtually a
lone voice warning of the dangers that Nazi
Germany posed to the peace of Europe and the
world. It was only under the extraordinary
circumstances of the late-1930s that his popularity
revived and he became acceptable as the national
leader.
Appeasement
The policy adopted by Allies in dealing
with Hitler’s Germany; give in to
Hitler’s demands for territorial gains
hoping Hitler would eventually be
satisfied (or, as Churchill put it,
“feeding your neighbors to the
crocodile, hoping that he would eat
you last”)
Blitzkrieg
“Lightening war” introduced by Hitler in 1939;
involved sudden, fast moving attacks with
planes and tanks
The combination of Panzer tanks and planes proved
unstoppable.
Nations Conquered
by Germany by
1940
• Czechoslovakia
• Poland
• Denmark
• Norway
• Belgium
• The Netherlands
• France
Greater East Asia CoProsperity Sphere
• An imperial concept created and promulgated
for occupied Asian populations during the first
third of the Showa Period by the government
and military of the Empire of Japan.
• It promoted the cultural and economic unity of
the East Asian race. It also declared the
intention to create a self-sufficient “bloc of
Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of
Western powers.”
• It was announced in a radio address entitled
“The International Situation and Japan’s
Position” by Foreign Minister Hachiro Arita
on June 29, 1940.
American Entry
into World War II
The bombing of Pearl Harbor by the
Japanese galvanized pro-war sentiment in
the U.S. It gave FDR the pretext that he
needed to do what he had known for a
long time that he would have to: lead
America into the fray and militarily
support the Allied cause.
Why the U.S. Finally
Entered the War
The bombing of
Pearl Harbor by the
Japanese galvanized
pro-war sentiment
in the U.S.
Why Did the
U.S. Go to
War?
Pearl Harbor was
the immediate
cause
What about the long term causes?
The Alliance
Structure
• The Allies
–Great Britain
–France
–Soviet Union
• The Axis
Powers
–Germany
–Italy
–Japan
The three
totalitarian
nations that
signed the
AntiComintern
pact formed
the so-called
Berlin-RomeTokyo “Axis”
The Road to War
• In 1940, Japan sought to incorporate its
possessions into a greater East Asia co-prosperity
sphere
• Nature of the conflict—U.S. wanted Japan to
evacuate China
• Japan wanted a free hand in China
• The “Rome-to-Tokyo Axis (September 1940) fused
the conflicts in Europe and Asia turning the
struggle into global war”
• Fearing a two front conflict, and hoping to
postpone war with Japan, the U.S. “engaged in a
kind of diplomatic shadow boxing”
War Guilt
• Most of the responsibility lies at Germany’s door,
specifically charged to Adolph Hitler (whose whole policy
had been war-oriented)
– A peace of more than 25 years would do great harm to
Germany. . . “in eternal peace, mankind perishes”
– Social Darwinism—war ridded mankind of unfit
species—the primal law of life and death and gaining at
the expense of others
– To his generation, who were products of World War I,
the idea of peace seemed unpleasant. . . There was a
fascination with hostility
• The Western Allies were also to blame to a lesser extent,
especially France and Britain
• Russia—her Non-Aggression Pact with Germany made the
war well-nigh inevitable
FDR
declared
that the
security
and peace
of 90% of
the world
is being
jeopardize
d by the
remaining
10%
Areas of the World in
Which Most of the
Fighting Occurred
The Pacific Theater
Contrasts with World War
I — It Differed in Origins
and Major Events
• World War II was far more a world war, involving
more territory in Asia, China, Africa, and Europe
• World War I had been largely a war for position;
WW II was in almost constant movement
• Weapons that were chiefly new were responsible
for greater speed and mobility in WW II.
– the airplane revolutionized war on land and sea
– almost 25% of the casualties in WW II were
airmen, e.g., those caught in "Flack Alley"
amounted to 70,000
– bomb targets were the manufacturing
backbone of the 3rd Reich, the industrial
centers
Contrasts Continued
• The use of air warfare against civilian targets
eradicated the distinction between the fighting and
home fronts. . . World War II was more of a total
war than World War I.
• The production of planes, ships, munitions,
weapons, food, and clothing drew in civilians.
• World War I was in part a clash of ideologies and
systems of rule; World War II was a more acute
clash in a doctrinaire fashion, a kind of worldwide
civil war to decide not so much the kind of power
that would henceforth rule the world as the kind
of morality
Comparisons with
World War I
• Both wars were tied to the follies of Versailles
• Both were tied to the Great Depression
– World War I was a cause of the Depression
– World War II was in part the result of it
• The desire for German hegemony was a key
motive in both wars In this, Hitler becomes
representative of a general German imperialistic
drive as remote as the Bismarckian period; that
drive culminated in Hitler who radicalized "flight
from fears of the socialist menace" into
expansionist ideas
Comparisons
Continued
• Eastern Lebensraum had long been a part of
German ideology; the big question was
whether hegemony would fall to the Teuton
or Slav.
• The concept of English neutrality to wage
successful war against France with
simultaneous conquest in the East—this
had roots in the Wilhelmian period
Six Causes for
World War II
1.
Versailles Treaty—planted the seeds of a new and
greater war. One historian calls World War II the "war
over the settlement of Versailles”—The peace left many
national and international problems unsolved—they all
contributed to the coming of war in 1939
2. Struggle between the Right and Left in Europe—both
were against democracy
– Rioting and the threat of communist revolution
scared those on the Right
– Communism and Fascism were alternative solutions
to cope with dissatisfaction over inefficient
government
– In times of crisis, people turn or lean to extremist
solutions and powerful leadership
Causes Continued
• Economic ills
– post-war inflation, especially in Germany and
Italy
– the Great Depression which followed inflation
• Fatigue—a lack of desire to become involved with
international problems. This led the main
democracies to bury their heads in the sand, to
respond with appeasement, i.e., the giving of the
aggressor what he wanted
Causes Continued
• Failure of the League of Nations to preserve peace
– 1931—Japanese invasion of Manchuria
– 1935—Italian invasion of Ethiopia
– The League was powerless to prevent war—it had no
armed forces and had to depend on the military support
of France and England who were unprepared for war,
and lacked large
armies
– The League wouldn't render unified support to check
the actions of the aggressor states
• Rise of Aggressor Nations which Tested the Strength of the
Democracies—intense nationalism was given purpose by a
drive for conquest and a hatred of minority groups
Mussolini—”We have buried
the putrid corpse of liberty. . .
war alone sets the stamp of
nobility on the peoples who have
the courage to face it.”
FDR—the security and
peace of 90% of the world
is being jeopardized by
the remaining 10%.
Fini